Thursday, February 22, 2007

As a whole, I liked Birds of Prey: Between Dark and Dawn very much, in line with all of Gail Simone's run on Birds of Prey so far. Is it rare, perhaps, that a second writer's run on a book, following the writer who created the series, is as good or better than the original? Devin Grayson's Nightwing, for instance, didn't quite mesh with Chuck Dixon's; Simone's Birds of Prey does. If anything, it was only little moments that troubled me: the art teams shift drastically, for instance, nearly every issue, such that it quickly becomes distracting; the second Terra, despite what this volume claims, is not actually dead; and, while I haven't read much with Vixen in it before, Huntress's awe of her--that Batman spoke so highly of her, that Vixen was reportedly so powerful--when Huntress was JLA and Vixen was Justice League Detroit, rang false. (I did like that Simone returns Huntress to some of her vigilante roots here, not losing sight of Huntress's violent streak). Not to mention, it was never quite clear to me what Brainiac's ultimate plan was with the cult leader Brusaw, though it hardly matters--pairing Oracle against Brainiac was inspired, and long overdue, let alone Simone bringing back the time-lost Lady Blackhawk.

This is high-quality stuff, and worth checking out if you haven't. I'm on to read Birds of Prey: The Battle Within now, and here's hoping Gail Simone stays on Birds of Prey for a while.

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